Israel Condemns Attempted Murder of Iranian Dissident Rushdie

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Israel joined western governments in condemning the attempted murder of dissident Iranian author Salman Rushdie, whom the Tehran regime had long targeted.

“The attack on Salman Rushdie is an attack on our freedoms and values. It is the result of decades of incitement led by the extremist regime in Tehran,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid tweeted.

“On behalf of the people of Israel, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll also denounced the Iranian regime following the attack on Rushdie during a speaking event in the town of Chautauqua in New York State.

“Yesterday’s shocking attack on Salman Rushdie is further evidence of the brutality & extremism of the Iranian regime, which has gone after and persecuted freethinkers everywhere for decades,” said Roll.

Iran is a threat to the free world,” he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the attack “vicious” and offered prayers for Rushdie’s recovery.

“Salman Rushdie — with his insight into humanity…his refusal to be intimidated or silenced, stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience,” Biden said in a statement.

“We reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression,” he added.

In 1989, then-Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a religious edict calling for Rushdie to be killed following his publication of a book he deemed as blasphemous.

The edict has never been lifted and a bounty for Rushdie’s assassination still exists. A previous assassination attempt against Rushdie in London in 1989 failed.

According to witnesses, Rushdie was seated on an auditorium stage and preparing to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York when a man jumped up from the audience and managed to stab him several times before being wrestled to the ground by staff and other spectators, and taken into police custody. The assailant has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

Rushdie, 75, was left severely injured

“He’s off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun,” his agent Andrew Wylie said.

“It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction,” he was quoted by the BBC as saying.